4.11-1 京都御所 Imperial Palace (1) & 4.11-2 堀川遊歩道 Horikawa Promenade

Kyoto cherry blossom viewing tour 4.11-1     Kyoto Imperial Palace (1)

After a bright sunny day the day before, we had, once again, heavily overcast weather with forecast of rain around noon time.  We couldn’t complain because we had a wonderful day the day before at Hirano Shrine. However, at that point, with most of the sakura spots in Kyoto reported end of season, our options were limited. We came to Kyoto Imperial Palace, it didn’t let us down, there were at least 3-4 varieties including even the Gyoiko cherry (御衣黃櫻) and the Fugenzo sakura (普賢象桜)(?).  Both white and pinkish yaezakura varieties (淡紅色八重咲, Kanzan?)

京都賞櫻行十一之一     京都御所

經過前一天的燦爛陽光，這天又轉回密雲的天氣，而且還説中午會下雨。早上吃早餐時在傷腦筋，盤算著應該怎麼安排行程，因為幾乎大部分京都桜花景點都說桜花開完了。最後信步走到京都御所，就在下立売御門進去就看到大片的桜花還在滿開。可惜的是，天色確實太沉，照片效果也昏暗。驚喜的是這裡也有御衣黃桜和普賢象桜（？不確定）。

⇑⇓    Not sure what variety of this pink yaezakura this is, according to the info online, it is very likely the Kanzan variety, (カンザン, 関山, 学名: Prunus lannesiana),  which is one of the most common pink double flower, its fresh leaves are coppery brown.

⇑⇓    不確定此粉紅色品種是何品種。唯根據網上資料，猜想可能是関山  (カンザン, 学名:  Prunus lannesiana)。它是一種較常見的粉紅色重瓣桜，新葉為銅啡色。

⇑⇑    御衣黃櫻(較稀有品種)      Gyoiko cherry

⇑⇓   Ichiyo variety (??), a common late blooming yaezakura.       ⇑⇓   一叶樱   (??)

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Kyoto cherry blossom viewing tour 4.11-2   Late blooming sakura at Horikawa Promenade

With this year’s earlier-than-usual sakura season in Kyoto close to an end, there were no sakura left at Nijo Castle at this point, however, we were told that there were still some late blooming sakura in mankai at Horikawa Promenade. Horikawa Promenade is a nice promenade located across the street of the entrance of Nijo Castle. It is the site for 京の七夕 Tanabata (Festival of the Weaver) in August. After our visit to the Imperial Palace, the weather was not turning any better, so we came here to try our luck. They were right, there were still a lot of sakura there and most of them were double flowers. We walked a section of the promenade, and it began to rain. We called it a day and went to Shijo for window shopping.

京都賞櫻行十一之二      堀川遊歩道

今年原安排去二条城，但𥚃面的桜早已開完了，所以在御所走過來，是想去堀川遊步道看看，據說那裡有遲開的八重桜。步道就在二条城入口對面，長長的小溪兩旁修得整潔，是散步的好去處，每年「京の七夕」就在此舉行。看來這𥚃亦有不同的品種，可覌性高，可惜走了一段就下雨了，我們只好跑到四条逛公司去了。

⇑⇓   Fugenzo sakura (普賢象の花 Prunus lannesiana) (?)

                                               ⇑⇓    Fugenzo sakura (普賢象桜)(?)

                                              ⇑⇑        御衣黃櫻     Gyoiko cherry